A framework for designing PSS that allow for the integrated support of urban design, stakeholder management, and institutional management tasks

To implement innovative social and technological solutions, planners cannot be exclusively concerned with designing alternatives for the physical transformation of an urban area. They must also account for the complex stakeholder as well as institutional regulations and procedures that can support or hinder the successful implementation of innovative solutions. Concerns about stakeholder objectives, values, demands, and positions as well as complex public processes, laws and regulations that need to be accounted for during the implementation of innovative urban solutions are moving to the center of urban planning practice. Numerous past projects have shown that the success of innovative urban transformation depends upon the ability of planners to integrate spatial design with stakeholder management and institutional management tasks. While planning support systems (PSS) can potentially be helpful during the implementation of such innovative urban transformations, still little is known about how to best link urban design support capabilities with functionality to support the management of stakeholders and public institutions. To overcome this gap, this paper presents use concepts to support the design of PSS platforms that can support more integrated urban design, stakeholder management, and institutional management tasks. The paper also illustrates how the use concepts can support the design of PSS by describing two PSS platforms which we developed to support German and Dutch municipalities with the implementation of innovative urban solutions.